


i'll paint you a clear blue sky

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multiple Pov, Panic Attacks, Soulmates, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:13:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5430968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Oh - shit.” He yells, as he trips backwards tumbling onto the to the ground, his are slamming flat against the carpet. The other student follows in suit and tumbles forward, crawling on all fours toward Louis to touch his face.</i>
</p><p> </p><p><i>And with one look, Louis world has erupted into a sea of mesmerizing colours. The desks are tan coloured, and the chairs behind them maroon. Not a very good colour scheme, he thinks. </i> </p><p>au; harry is only a young student when he meets his new professor turned soulmate louis. harry has so many things to run from after leaving his old life behind and apparently louis may be a little too nice for him. the moral of the story is that everything goes wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is it! it's going to be chaptered and hopefully I can get about 3k done a week. it'll be pretty long hopefully so look out for longer parts soon! the title of this is taken by troye sivan's masterpice, 'blue' you should go listen to it it's pretty much the inspiration for this entire fic.
> 
>  **disclaimer** : I don't own one direction, thank god, none of this is affiliated with them and it's all fiction i promise lol so yeah, leave a comment and tell me what you think or give me some suggestions!

Louis is twelve. 

Louis is twelve and Lottie can see in colour. It’s not fair is all he can think because all Louis has ever known is how black the coffee table is and how piercingly white the walls of Fizzy’s bedroom are. It’s not fair because Louis is older and he should be getting this first, not Lottie! It’s not fair because Louis wants the love Lottie already has. His name is Charlie and Louis thinks that’s weird because Lottie’s name is Charlotte. Charlie goes to the same school as them and according to his mum, he plays the piano better than anyone. 

Louis makes Lottie retell the story at least seven times. He watches his sister’s eyes light up as she recounts the tale, soon to be the talk of the playground as soon as it’s formally announced. 

“Oh, Lou!” Lottie giggles, “It was so pretty! Everything was black and white like it normally is, right?” 

Louis finds himself nodding his head vigorously along to her story. 

“But then, I was on the monkey bars and someone cut in front of me. I was going to go tell Ms. Thompson, but then I didn’t want too all of a sudden. And when Charlie looked at me everything became pretty! Did you know the monkey bars are yellow Louis? Yellow!” Lottie is practically screeching, “And the sand is yellow too but it’s like sand coloured yellow. It’s all faded and stuff, I haven’t decided if I like it yet.” 

Louis starts to cry then and from there it’s like a chain reaction. He’s twelve for gods sake! At this point he considered himself to be pretty much a man. He couldn’t be acting like this over some stupid change in his eyes. But it wasn’t just a change in his eyes, he had to remind himself. It would be everything - finding the one who gives your world _colour_ is absolutely and unconditionally everything according to almost every human being residing on this planet. When Jay managed to wrangle him down on his bed, she tried to settle him by rubbing his back. 

“Don’t doubt for one second that you won’t see colour, darling.” Jay murmured, the cadence of her voice was the most comforting, “You have so much time, Lou. So much time to find the one who’s meant for you.” 

Louis still cried, but he knew even if he never saw colour in this world, he would always have his mum to be there for him when he needed anything. 

Charlie comes over for dinner that night with his family. They’re wonderful, really, but Louis can’t help but think that more than half the people in the room could see in colour, yet he was stuck here with only the gray hues of the tablecloth to keep him company. Lottie and Charlie are sickeningly shy around each other, but Louis’ happy for her. He knows he’s supposed to be so he just is. It’s Lottie’s day, he reminds himself before painting on a smile and digging into the food on his plate. 

“I didn’t know veggies were green!” Charlie exclaims from the other end of the table. His parents laugh, and turn to exchange knowing smiles with Jay. 

“Our older one got colour only a couple years back. She still see’s new colour in so many objects we never thought she had even payed any attention to. Just yesterday she called me up going on and on about how telephone booth’s in the city were red!” 

Jay laughs and dinner rolls on. Louis is getting restless and tired. All he wants is to be able to see how green the grass is. He wants to see apples so red and juicy that his mouth starts to water. Lottie describes everything to him and Louis can’t decide if he likes it or he despises her for taunting him with so much shiny new information. 

They gather around the fire, talking about arrangements for the next few weeks. As far as Louis knew, it was imperative that new soulmates stayed near each other at all times during the first month at least. He had no idea, but didn’t dare question the system in case some higher power was watching over him and refused to give him a soulmate because he was being rude - or something along those lines. 

Louis sits through the whole conversation. He doesn’t want to miss one tiny piece of information that comes out of the adult’s mouths. His teachers had always told him to be extra prepared for anything life threw at him, and definitely he counted this as research. Truth was that he was just really desperate to find the one and see his own world in colour. Twelve year old Louis thought it was about time something good happened in his life. He was kind of hoping this would be it.

* * * 

Louis is sixteen and there’s no one yet.

He’s had a couple of girlfriends. Boyfriends too when he realized that looking up girls shorts during PE wasn’t something he was particularly interested in doing. Lottie and Charlie were very happy. As happy as thirteen year olds could be, really. They had each other and they had a world full of endless possibilities. So many things to just look at and admire. Louis would be forever jealous of how his sister got what she wanted way before he did. 

Sometimes Louis worried that his soulmate would be of the female gender. Nothing feared Louis more than looking at his soulmate and not being able to feel that unconditional love that everyone talked about, that was written about in fairytale books. 

“Rest assured, Lou.” Jay had said, rubbing his back on his bed just like when he was younger. “God, or whoever decides these kinds of things, would never play such a cruel joke as to put you with someone you don’t love. Whether that be a man or woman, you will love them with all your heart there is no cure.” 

Louis was content with her answer and slept so easily that night. He knew that whoever was up there matching people with their soulmates would respect Louis’ decision to want a boy in his life. But at this point, even getting a girl soulmate would be a relief to Louis. He felt no love in his life. Zayn had settled down with some unnamed guy from Wolverhampton. It was a shock to Louis when his best mate just left his life. But he understood. The commitment of a soulmate was like no other and there was no friendship worth risking. 

“Lou, can I ask you a question?” Jay had approached him one lazy summer afternoon as he was sat in front of the telly playing fifa. 

“Mhm?” Louis didn’t tear his eyes away from the game, but shifted his body toward his mother. 

“Have you ever thought of…” She trails off, “I don’t know, uh, soulmate matching.” 

“What?” Louis drops his controller, to look at her head on. 

“You’re _that_ worried I won’t find anyone?” The hurt look that flashed across Louis’ features was too clear for her to miss.

“No, of course not! I just think since you’re so dedicated to finding yours, maybe this would speed along the process.” 

“No way.” He countered, “I’m just going to let nature play out the way it’s supposed to.”

That night, a new family moves into town. They’re eldest daughter makes friends with Louis although they don’t stay too close. The Styles, they’re called. Anne and Jay are quick to befriend one another and soon the Styles are over more often than not. Louis gets along well with Gemma, yet he still prefers the solace of being alone. Sometimes she doesn’t come over. She talks about a brother who went to study abroad in paris for the year. Louis can’t help but wonder if that brother could’ve been Louis’ best friend. Mystery brother never comes around and Louis doesn’t care all that much.

The Styles move back to London without telling anyone and that’s that. Jay only cries once, and Louis quite frankly couldn’t care less. Gemma had begun to get on his nerves. Jay finds new friends and so does Louis. That friendship was over, and again it was time to start anew for the Tomlinson family.

* * * 

Louis is twenty-four and his world was still a mix of blacks and grays and whites.

He liked to pretend he’d gotten over his younger obsession, yet whenever he saw any couple kissing or holding hands, the only thing he could think of was that their earth could never be dull. It was saturated with blues and highlighted with beautiful pinks and yellows. Twenty four year old Louis knew it was unfair because at this point, all of his friends had met their soulmates and had effectively “settled down”. Louis went to clubs alone and it didn’t seem like his nights could get any worse. 

Lottie and Charlie had decided to stop by his place later that evening and cleaning the apartment would be hellish. Beer bottles were strewn across the hardwood and dirty dishes lay abandoned on the dining table, probably stinking up the whole place. He knew his life was a complete mess, yet he refused to let anyone see that he was so incredibly _unhappy_ all by himself in some random flat on the outskirts of London. 

A loud knock on the door halted his self pitying and he rushed to straighten his sweater and open the door at the same time. The room smelled like a vanilla scented yankee candle and he’d let the fire run on to get rid of the smell of old dishes, hopefully it worked quickly. It was a miracle what an hour of hard work could do to the flat.

“The place looks lovely, Lou.” Lottie smiled, and handed him a bottle of wine. Her first year of uni was suiting her well. She looked happier than she had during high school. 

“It’s weird to think that you’re old enough to be able to drink.” Louis frowns, although he would happily accept free wine no matter who or where it came from. 

Charlie followed behind, and half hugged Louis. The encounter was all too awkward and Louis hurried them to the kitchen counter. Lottie helped Louis in the kitchen while Charlie took a seat on one of the barstools. 

“So, I heard you have a new position over at the uni! I think one of my mates, has signed up for your class!” He turns to Lottie, “Harry right?”

“Might’ve been.” Lottie laughs, “Who knows with Harry right. Science major taking a writing seminar, could he waste his time any more!” 

“Kind of stupid in my opinion, but hey, more students for me!” Louis chuckles, tossing onions into the pot of bubbling soup on the stove, “Although fuckin’ finally, it’s been so long since I’ve had a teaching position I actually want to have. Teaching High School is a complete wreck.” 

“What class is it you’re doing again? Maybe i’ll be take it just to irritate you.” Lottie winked, elbowing him jokingly in the rib. 

“As if you’d be sophisticated enough to take one of _my_ english courses.” Louis threw back, his eyes sparkling with amusement.  
 The banter went on and everything was going well. Lottie talked about a certain Professor Payne who was insanely attractive yet didn’t seem to have any emotions whatsoever. Charlie complained about his work as per usual, desks jobs were never the most entertaining especially while juggling homework from uni. Louis was just waiting for the fateful question to come up and this time, Lottie didn’t disappoint him. 

After dinner, they’re sitting on the couch with their legs messily draped over one another, watching a rerun of friends. Charlie’s in the bedroom on business call and for some reason Louis can sense what Lottie’s about to say to him. 

“You’ll tell me right?” 

“Tell you what?” Louis shifts to avoid eye contact. 

“You’ll let me know when you get colour, right? I mean I’m your sister after all. You wouldn’t, uh, by any chance have colour already and not be telling me or something.” She laughs nervously, but there’s serious concern underneath her facade. Most normal people tend to meet there soulmates by sixteen and even at the latest twenty. Louis is well past both of those dates and it’s sad that his sister thinks he’s lying. 

“I wish I could see in colour, Lot.” Louis sighs, sniffling a bit, “I really want to be able to see in colour.” 

“Oh, Lou.” 

“I just feel like I’ve missed my mark. Don’t you remember the Kellers next door when we were little? The eldest one, I’m forgetting her name - ” 

“Martha.” 

“Martha, yeah. She never found her soulmate, remember? And the police came and everything because she was thirty and she had no colour. They said her soulmate had probably died young and they left her there to cry on her doorstep. Mum made a huge fuss over how she would never want her children to go through that, but what if I’m there already. What if _my_ soulmate died young and I’m just sitting here moping over someone who doesn’t exist anymore.” 

Charlie comes back into the room and they sit in silence for a while, although Louis can feel Lottie’s eyes boring into the back of his head. They leave quarter past ten and when Louis shuts the door behind him, he can feel a weight being lifted off of his chest. It feels good not having to pretend sometimes. 

The next morning, Louis wakes with a start as his alarm goes off for 6:30 am. His hands come to rest on the snooze button a millisecond before he realizes it’s his first day teaching at uni and the second his feet touch the ground, he’s racing to the bathroom. He has real live students who signed up for his class ready and waiting to learn. All a teacher could ask for was a willing and participating group of people who thoroughly enjoyed what they were being taught. Louis assumed this would be how his students were considering his class had maxed out in the first ten minutes of being posted online. 

A suit and tie was way too formal, yet jeans wouldn’t help prove that he was old enough to teach. A 23 year old professor in jeans would just spell trouble for the university administration. He decided and a pair of nice black trousers and a tucked in white shirt with a tie. Business like, although not too casual. He needed his students to take him seriously, but also have fun in class.

It’s 9:30 am and Louis late into the classroom. The campus tour had taken years and his tour guide, the lovely and bubbly student Niall Horan had decided that Louis deserved so see every single thing on campus including the men’s locker rooms which he would never be entering again and his own dorm, which was messier than Louis apartment. It stunk of dirty socks and fish. Neither of them good smells to add to a college dorm. 

“Hello, all!” Louis starts, loudly, quickly striding into the classroom and turning to face the board plopping down his briefcase and papers - effectively flaunting his arse to the whole first ten rows. 

His words startle the room of about 200 who immediately look up to see a small and apparently very attractive teacher. Louis hears a couple wolf whistles and even a “nice ass” from a prick sitting in the far back of the room. His cheeks became tinged with red and everything he had planned to say had suddenly disappeared from his vocabulary. 

“I-uh” Louis stuttered, but managed to speak clearly again. “Um, I’m Professor Tomlinson. I’ll be teaching your Advanced Lit and Writing class for this semester. This year.” He tacks on. 

“Clearly.” He hears a student mutter from her seat up front. 

Louis raises his eyebrows at her, prompting her to close her lips and focus her gaze on her sneakers. “I’m also teaching a couple other classes here and there, if you’re interested in other specifically tailored courses. Make sure to check online and sign up.” 

He gains more composure now, his voice getting stronger and faster as he goes. It’s as if there’s a buzzing in his brain and he can’t seem to get a handle on what it is. It feels good, so so so good and yet he feels like something is off. It feels like he’s high and drunk at the same time. Suddenly everything is spinning and he steadies himself with a hand against his desk. 

“Professor, are you okay?” Someone calls, and he looks up to see Niall smiling contentedly at him from the third row. 

“Mhm, yeah I’m fine.” Louis grunts, “Just a dizzy spell.” 

He opts to write Louis Tomlinson on the board and then hand his course syllabus to the first person in each row to pass down to others. 

“Here’s our syllabus. During this course, we will be reading a lot of books.” 

Audible groans are heard throughout the room, and Louis laughs. 

“I promise you, they will be worth your while. No Shakespeare for now I promise.” Louis seems to be fine again, but with one walk in the other direction to pass more papers, the spinning feeling is back. There are so many voices flooding and overwhelming his brain. Are people talking? He can’t really hear anything but he can also hear everyone screaming at the same time. This is it, he’s going crazy. He trips over the side of one desk and accidentally bumps a students phone off the desk and onto the ground. 

“You're a mess, Louis Tomlinson.” He mumbles to himself. 

He reaches down to pick up the phone and place it on the desk. With one look at the student’s beautiful _green_ eyes, he knows he’s fucked. 

“Oh - _shit_.” He yells, as he trips backwards tumbling onto the to the ground, his are slamming flat against the carpet. The other student follows in suit and tumbles forward, crawling on all fours toward Louis to touch his face. 

And with one look, Louis world has erupted into a sea of mesmerizing colours. The desks are tan coloured, and the chairs behind them maroon. Not a very good colour scheme, he thinks. The carpet is a mangy green, but to Louis it’s the greatest green he has ever laid his eyes on. Everything is so damn pigmented. But this boy, everything about this boy is all the colour Louis could ever want in the world. Chocolate brown curls frame his milky white complexion, and his green eyes piercingly gaze into Louis’ own. So bright it almost hurts him to look at. Louis wonders what colour his own eyes are. 

“What the fuck.” Louis yells, scrambling to his feet. The boy does the same, but neither take their eyes off each other. “Your eyes are green.”. 

“Your tie is green.” 

“My tie is blue, thank you very much.” 

“Your hair is brown.” The other boy says. 

“Well so is yours.” Louis gasp is audible, “What colour are my eyes?” 

“They’re the prettiest blue I have ever seen.” He responds sincerely, “I’m assuming they’re ocean coloured. I mean I’ve never seen the colour of the ocean so I guess we’ll have to go to the ocean and do a real comparison, with like photos and everything because oceans could be more green than blue for fucks sake. Or we could check a sea because apparently seas are really pretty and blue too - ” 

“Just shut up. Please.” Louis quiets the boy’s rambling, by placing both his hands on the boy’s pink cheeks. His mouth hangs agape as he sizes up Louis and takes several moments to look up at the astonished classroom, with their eyes the size of golfballs looking at the pair. They must have only just realized what had happened. 

“I’m Harry.” 

“Harry.” Louis breathes, tears bubbling up at the corner of his eyes, “Thank you for letting me see colour.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like this chapter a lot because we see a little bit more of Harry's past. a couple triggers but just for a bit of a milder panic attack. i'm going to tag triggers, but just know this fic isn't going to be super lighthearted and fluffy.

Harry woke up to the smell of dirty socks and way too much Axe body spray. Their dorm was a complete mess, with clothes strewn across the dirty carpet and cans of red bull and various other unmentionables lay abandoned on window sills and shelves. Even the succulents Harry had bought to “brighten up the place” seemed to be doing the complete opposite of their job - probably because they were browning over and lay on their deathbeds. He stayed in bed for a few moments, thinking back to the events that had transpired just the night before. Harry had lost all faith in finding his soulmate and he had begun to lose his belief in love, even Gemma knew that. Seeing Louis didn’t change _all_ of that, but it did prove to be quite an obstacle in Harry’s whole method of thinking, maybe even his way of life. He knew that now he would need to plan Louis into his future. His own professor would need to live with him and be close to him, especially through the first month. Harry heard it was the hardest in the first month. He remembered when Gemma found her own soulmate. She suffered through endless migraines and stomachaches that would keep her in bed for hours. When he was young, he heard of a new soulmate pair who stayed away from each other too long and one began to have seizures. Harry didn't want that, obviously. Before, he had finally been able to come to terms with the fact that he would be skipping over the part of his life that included a husband and babies, or anything of that sort. His dad always said that finding a soulmate was all about luck, and apparently Harry’s multiplied overnight. 

“Oi, married man is alive!” Niall yelps, walking into the room in only a towel wrapped around his waist. 

“M’ not married, Niall.” Harry mumbled, groaning as he heaved himself off of the rock hard mattress below him. 

“Yet!” He reminded, “Soon enough, our dear Professor Tomlinson will have you whipped into a family man and he’ll buy you a rock to put on your finger that will be _much_ bigger than whatever he’s hiding underneath his trousers.” 

He cringed at Niall’s vulgarity, flipping him off casually as he threw the sheets back over his bed. Harry knew Niall was only fucking around with him but the thought of all of it was a little frightening. To think that this one person he had only met yesterday would be the one he would spend the rest of his life with was overwhelming. 

“Oh - forgot to mention, your man is downstairs waiting for you. Ran into ‘im on the way up.” 

“He’s not my man, Niall. And what would’ve been nice is if you had started with that to begin with.” Harry grumbled, although he could clearly feel his heart beat a little faster at the way Niall had addressed Louis as his. And even though this soulmate crap was stupid, Harry knew it was unremarkable how _whole_ he felt. As if something huge in his life was missing before and now if it were to leave, he wouldn’t be able to live without it. 

Harry was shaking a little bit as he descended the multiple stairs that would eventually lead him to the lobby of his dorms. The elevators were out of service as per usual. 

It wasn't until he saw Louis, that his heart picked up speed again. His professor was always dressed so classily. A striped tie hung loosely from his neck and Harry almost started drooling when he laid his eyes on Louis' tighter slacks and fitted white button down - sleeves rolled up, of course just to add to the sexual appeal of his ensemble. It was remarkable that Harry was able to gather self control and _not_ sink to his knees right in front of Professor Tomlinson. 

Louis cleared his throat as Harry approached him, "Uh. Hey, Harry." 

"Professor." Harry was curt and formal as he extended his hand in front of Louis.

"Considering I'm probably going to get married to you, I don't think you have to call me Professor or shake hands with me when we see each other." Louis pointed out, his eyebrows furrowing although a smile was pulling at his lips. Harry came to realize that Louis probably wouldn’t be one to sugar coat anything and he appreciated the bluntness of his comment. 

Harry managed a smile too. "Sorry, um, this is all just really surreal to me. I feel like this is straight out of a porno or something." Harry blanched immediately after the words left his mouth. He really wasn't surprised that even around Louis he had no filter whatsoever. “I-uh, I really have no filter, sorry about that…” 

"I wasn't really thinking of this like that, but whatever floats your boat." Louis shook his head, laughing a little to himself before motioning for the two of them to sit. "I brought coffee by the way. Starbucks was the only thing on the way, but I brought crappy cappuccinos if that helps both of us be a little less nervous about this whole thing." 

"Thanks." Harry mumbled, accepting the cup which immediately warmed his cold fingers. "So, uh, what did you want to see me about?" 

"This isn't supposed to be some sort of interrogation, Harry. I hope you know that.” Louis sighed, placing his cup back on the coffee table. "Most of this shit happened to my sisters when I was younger and I have to say, I didn't really expect a soulmate at this point. I didn't really expect to see colour. And when I see you my whole world literally lit up, in both aspects of being able to see the person I’ve been waiting for for years and being able to see that my desk is really not a flattering colour compared to the walls of the room. I just want to know where we are going to go from here because this is usually all mapped out when someone's young. Neither of us are going to be directed or guided through this process, which if I'm being honest is really scary to me. And I'm sorry if I’m rambling, but I feel like the both of us need to find some way to deal with the fact that our impending future together is a lot closer than it would've been if we met when we were younger." He breathed in hard, trying to read the look on Harry's face, though to Louis he was virtually a pro at his poker face. 

After Harry took a moment to register Louis' words, he relaxed a bit, suddenly realizing that the two of them shared some of the same fears and concerns. "I really wish there was a guidebook to this whole soulmate thing. I don't know where to go from here." Harry shrugged.

"Well neither do I." 

"I can already, feel the pull you know?" Harry continued after the pause. At Louis' confused gaze he went on, "I mean like, I could feel how far apart we were last night. I know that's supposed to happen about a week in or so, but I can physically feel myself needing to be next to you. When I came down the stairs today, it felt like I was released from a grip or something. Weird, right?" 

"I guess I sort of know what you mean. Hasn't come to me yet, but 'm sure it will at some point." Louis toyed with the ring on his finger. "We'll have to stay together at some point, you know? Like so it doesn't hurt or anything - at least for a little bit." 

"I'd offer you a bed in my luxurious room upstairs, but quite frankly it smells like piss and Niall has a new conquest who stays over every night, so if you had anything better in mind I would be the first to take you up on it." Harry laughed. 

"I have an apartment that's about a five minute walk from campus. It's really close to here but it'll be a bit cramped with two, I hope you don't mind." 

"Any apartment is practically a palace to me, Professor." 

"Louis." He interrupted. 

"Louis, yeah sorry. It'll take me a bit to get used to it. Oh shit! Speaking of Professors, I have a class in ten so I'd better get going. Could you text me the address of your place and after class I'll grab some overnight stuff?" 

Louis plugged his number into Harry's phone under the contact name, 'Louis (not Professor)' and powered it down, handing it back to him. Harry subsequently texted him a quick ‘hey’ to make sure Louis got the number as well. "Thanks for the...chat, Harry. I guess I'll see you tonight then." 

"Yeah, sounds good." And without even thinking about it, Harry bent down, placed a hand on the back of his head and gently kissed Louis' forehead, before casually walking toward the door. 

In the parking lot, he could feel his heart racing at a million beats per minute and his entire body was trembling. Had he really just kissed his professor’s forehead like some old grandmother and then walked out the door without even acknowledging the situation. Harry hadn't even realized he had done it until he was outside of the building. It was as if something had possessed him and had just made him _really_ want to bend down and pepper kisses all over Louis' face. He could feel something a little bit off with his body, almost as if it was being controlled by someone else. As Harry walked to the lecture hall, he couldn't help but wonder how Louis felt about it. Had he fucked up the entire future of their relationship before it even had a chance to get up on its own two feet? It certainly felt like that in the current moment. As soon as Harry sat himself down in his seat and watched other students fill in around him, he immediately retrieved his phone from his bag and searched for soulmates. The first link on the list of search results seemed to be credible. It was some beauty and style magazine, but Harry could work with anything at this point. The title of the article read, "So You've Found Your Soulmate? (A Couple Tips and Tricks From THE EXPERTS)". At a second glance, Harry didn't think this would be worth his while, and class was about to begin. He pocketed the phone and replaced it with a pair of sunglasses which he put on immediately. Still not used to colour, the blinding white of the walls were bound to give him a headache. 

Class began and Harry found himself staring mindlessly at the board as a teacher projected a boring slide with copious amounts of text. Although his professor was rambling on about some unimportant assignment, Harry could feel eyes on the back of his head. Some students in the first couple rows even turned to get a better look. He knew it would've spread around campus - just because of how unlikely the situation was to ever happen, but he never expected to become the poster boy for teacher student relationships. Harry fidgeted with the dark glasses and struggled to keep his eyes focused on the screen. The only thing running through his mind was the thought of Louis' caramel coloured, touseled hair, and ocean like eyes. Although, Harry couldn't care less about seeing colour anymore, it was all about Louis. Everything sort of revolved around Louis. 

As his professor dismissed the class, Harry took off immediately for the local café. Bean lay tucked into a little corner, a couple streets down from the entrance of uni. It had a very bookstore-like vibe in which the shelves were stacked high with endless paperbacks and hand-painted coffee mugs that loyal customers would always make and send to the store manager. Bean was like a home of sorts because it reminded Harry of the kitchen where he grew up. Sitting on the barstools or lounging in the couches wrapped up in knit blankets always made him feel so nostalgic about the loveseats he grew up napping on during his childhood. 

A couple of turns found Harry right at the door of his favourite place in the entire world. The wooden door opened with effort, but Harry was rewarded with the fantastic smell of freshly ground coffee beans and pastries which had just come out of the oven. It was all too much. He ordered his usual, and headed toward the small reading nook in the window that was usually free since no one wanted to cramp themselves into the small space. To Harry's utter shock, there were already short legs poking out of the opening and as he neared, the face became clearer. 

"Harry, no way!" 

Harry cringed, but forced himself to make eye contact with the man. No fucking way this was happening right now. 

"It's been so long mate! We haven't talked in what, a four years going on five now. This is unacceptable, you know you can never get away from me." The man winked but instead of being humorous, it sent chills down Harry's spine. 

"Nick." Harry said, through closed teeth and no trace of a smile. "You're back." 

"I am indeed, kid. I've decided I missed the two greatest things about this city, the smell of piss on the streets at night and Bean coffee runs in the morning." 

Harry couldn't even see straight. The guilt was rushing back to him in more ways than one and Nick brought back all the memories he had work so hard to repress for years. "Yeah."

"You alright mate, something seems a bit off?" Nick frowned although Harry knew this concerned look was all a façade. He pushed a curl of Harry's hair behind his ear. 

Harry forcefully shrugged off Nick's hands. "I have a soulmate." He almost choked on the words as he said the first thing that came to his mind in the moment. "Don't t-touch me. You can't touch me right now." 

"Oh, well look at that! Our young lad has finally found himself a pretty lady to lay with at night. Who would've thought you would _actually_ find someone after all those antics we got up to in the old days eh? I guess god believes in forgiveness otherwise you woulda' been fucked!" Nick slapped his knee and doubled over in laughter. 

Harry's thoughts were clouded with only pure rage and hatred. Every word that came out of Nick's mouth made him want to punch his fist through the glass windows until his knuckles bled red. "He isn't a lady." Harry found himself forcing out through gritted teeth. His hands coming to fists at his side, but his anger was transforming slowly into fear. 

"Always knew you swung that way, you've always been too pussy for a pussy." Nick laughed even harder, spilling a bit of coffee over the edge of the mug. "Well, nice chat Harry but I gotta get back to this book. I think I'm gonna make this little nook my new place. It's very...relaxing. I'll see you around." 

Harry's hands were shaking when he went to pick up his coffee from the front. Nick's presence was something he really didn't need to deal with again and after the old days, Harry knew what Nick was capable of making him doing. Things that were beyond anyone's moral codes. As Nick's words played through his mind, all he could think about where Louis was and how badly he wanted to talk to him about everything. His dependency on the man he didn't even know had grown twice in the size in the past fifteen minutes. Nick's presence really fucked with Harry's way of life. 

Harry couldn't even take one sip of coffee as he arrived at the addressed apartment Louis had texted to him earlier. Tears were steadily streaming down his face and into his coffee and his entire demeanor had changed as per usual. Seeing Nick always upset him so deeply that he would go into states like these and not be able to get out of them for hours. Harry automatically buzzed himself in with the door code and barreled toward Louis' apartment. He just needed a bathroom. He wouldn't do it on the floor, out of politeness of course. As soon as he reached Apartment number 314, he let himself into the unlocked flat and consequently dropped the coffee, making a beeline toward the first restroom he could find. After a couple seconds of throwing up his meager breakfast, he dry heaved for a couple moments over the toilet before he heard a soft knock on the open door. 

"Harry?" Louis was standing at the door, all decked out in grey sweats. His eyebrows were furrowed in concern at Harry's state and in his hand he was holding a glass of water. 

Harry flushed the toilet and went to stand up, but apparently his legs wouldn't work. "No, no don't move. Louis moved toward him and handed him the glass of water. Just stay there for a second okay?" Harry nodded in response. 

Louis returned with some blankets and extra pajama pants. A toothbrush as well so Harry could brush out the taste in his mouth. 

"You're pretty much perfect, you know?" Harry sniffled and stood up to accept the items Louis handed to him. 

"I would hardly say perfect. If anyone came into my apartment sobbing and throwing up, I think I would do my best to make them comfortable. Any decent human being would." 

"So are you saying I'm not special?" Harry laughed softly, beginning to brush his teeth. 

"Shh don't say that. You're one of a kind to me." Louis joked, but there was real sincerity in his voice. He rubbed circles around Harry's back. He already felt the tension that was there in the morning lift. Somehow this event had brought them...closer? 

They settled on the couch to watch friends reruns, something they discovered was the biggest thing they had in common. Louis didn't ask questions about the situation because he figured Harry would be able to tell him on his own time. Harry thanked the heavens for giving him such a sweet man to be with, he didn't deserve someone like Louis. And he certainly didn't think he could deal with being interrogated right now about what had happened. 

Harry found himself, lying with his head in Louis' lap and his eyes feeling heavy on his face. "Thank you, by the way." Harry mumbling slightly incoherently, sleep taking over his mind. "No one would've done that for me. You're the best." 

Louis didn't reply, but Harry swore right before his eyelids closed he heard Louis say, "You have me for the rest of your life, love. I better be the best."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> check me out on [tumblr](http://www.stylinscn.tumblr.com)!

**Author's Note:**

> check me out on [tumblr](http://www.stylinscn.tumblr.com) if you want :)


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